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Tanawha Trail
Tanawha Trail
	View of the Linn Cove Viaduct from an overlook on the Tanawha Trail.
Length	13.5 miles (21.7 km)
Location	North Carolina, United States
Designation	Mountains-to-Sea Trail
Trailheads	Julian Price Park Campground ; Beacon Heights
Use	Hiking
Difficulty	Easy to moderate
Sights	Appalachian Mountains ; Grandfather Mountain ; Linn Cove Viaduct
Hazards	American black bear ; Diarrhea from water ; Mosquitos ; Poison ivy ; Severe weather ; Steep grades ; Venomous snakes ; Yellowjackets ; Livestock
Surface	natural, boardwalk, asphalt

The Tanawha Trail stretches 13.5 miles (21.7 km) from Julian Price Park to Beacon Heights in North Carolina. "Tanawha" is the Cherokee word for a fabulous hawk or eagle.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] Completed in 1993, the Tanawha Trail, much like the nearby final section of Blue Ridge Parkway, crosses a range of geological and biological terrains.^[1]

Most of the Tanawha Trail is also incorporated as a part of North Carolina's Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST), which transverses the state from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks.

History

The Tanawha Trail was completed in 1993^[1] and was explicitly designed to be hiked.^{[citation needed]}

Throughout its length, the Tanawha Trail is blazed with a hawk feather icon. This is printed on small, metal signs. Most of these signs also display the Mountains-to-Sea Trail's white dot icon, at the points at which the two trails are combined. Junctions with side and connecting trails are signed; however, the other trails might not be blazed.^{[citation needed]}

Camping

Camping is not permitted on the Tanawha Trail. The northeastern trailhead is within Price Park's campground, which is open from May to October. The southwestern trailhead is close to the Pisgah National Forest, which allows dispersed camping along the MST. The Tanawha Trail also provides the principle access to Grandfather Mountain State Park's eastern trails, which have designated, primitive campsites.

Route

The southwestern trailhead is at the parkway's Beacon Heights Overlook. Shortly past the overlook, the MST joins with the Tanawha Trail, after it ascended Beacon Heights from the Pisgah National Forest. From there, the combined trails follow wooded lands alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway to the Linn Cove Visitor Center.

From the visitor center, the Tanawha Trail passes underneath the Linn Cove Viaduct and ascends steeply up stone steps past an enormous boulder wall. The trail levels off and enters a shady glen thick with birch and beech trees. Beyond the cascading water of Wilson Creek, the trail crosses a clearing filled with huge rock formations. The trail here, accented with flat rocks, is like a flagstone path.^[1]

The trail then climbs sharply to Rough Ridge and over a 200-foot (61 m) long boardwalk. Here the view into the Piedmont is unobstructed because of the unusual low-growing and fragile mountain-heather ecosystems. It also offers an outstanding glimpse of the Linn Cove Viaduct and several mountains, Grandmother Mountain, Hawksbill and Table Rock.^[1]

The trail continues on through a stately spruce and hemlock forest into a wooded glen reminiscent of New England. Its rocky landscape is filled with poplars, yellow birch, and oak.^[1]

Past Raven Rock, the trail tunnels through mountain laurel and rhododendron. This sheltered section then gives way to a more open area with a rock garden where large ferns cascade out of immense boulders.^[1]

More thickets of rhododendron lead to the junction of the Daniel Boone Scout Trail, one of Grandfather Mountain State Park's many trails. Not much further away is the junction with the Nuwati Trail, another state park trail. Hiking or camping on Grandfather Mountain requires a permit.

The Tanawha Trail passes several small cascades and crosses Boone Fork Creek. Around the creek are junctions with the Asutsi Trail and the Upper Boone Fork Trail. Also, a self-registration permit box for Grandfather Mountain is located near the Asutsi Trail junction. The trail winds in and out of rhododendron and laurel thickets, joins with an old logging road, and passes through a hardwood forest.

In the last section leading to Price Park, the trail breaks out of the woods into open fields. Here, it parallels and crosses Holloway Mountain Road, passes apple orchards, an old grave site, and pasture land, which in spring, is blanketed with numerous wildflowers. The pasture land is active, and features cattle which are not separated from hikers. Although docile and avoidant of humans, there have been incidents where injuries have resulted from conflicts with livestock, and signs along the trail entrance near this area warn of the cattle and what to do around them. They may typically be seen grazing or resting in the shade provided by mountain laurel plants. Lastly, the trail briefly joins the Boone Fork Trail and departs with the MST, before ending with a short walk into Price Park's campground.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j This article incorporates public domain material from Tanawha Trail (PDF). National Park Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-11-04. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
^ Weaver, Robert D. (2021) [First published 2006]. "Grandfather Mountain". NCpedia (Encyclopedia). Raleigh, NC: State Library of North Carolina. Archived from the original on 2024-06-02. Retrieved 2024-07-21. Called Tanawha ("fabulous bird" or "eagle") by the Cherokee Indians, the mountain acquired the name "Grandfather" from early settlers[.]
^ Hardy, Michael C. (2014). Grandfather Mountain. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4671-2104-0. p. 86: Tanawha is a Cherokee word for fabulous hawk or eagle, the same name that the tribe supposedly called Grandfather Mountain.
^ Johnson, Randy (2007). Hiking North Carolina: a guide to nearly 500 of North Carolina's greatest hiking trails (2nd ed.). Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press. ISBN 978-0-7627-3138-1. p. 118: The Tanawha Trail's Cherokee name meaning "great hawk" or "eagle."